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Sunday, June 24, 2012

STRENGTH

Strength. Where does it come from? Why do some people seem to always have it when needed and others can't muster it, ever? Is physical strength more or less important than emotional strength? Are they mutually exclusive? Or mutually inclusive? Can you learn emotional strength like you gain physical strength?




Emotional strength seems to come from surviving pain or loss in your life. The more times you are faced with a trial, the more strength you seem to be able to develop. Not to say that loss or pain isn't still there or that it doesn't still tear away at your heart, but you are stronger because you KNOW you will live through it.

The ability to move forward while wiping tears and picking up your broken self is the definition of strength. The more times you need to do it, the more times you survive it, the stronger you feel. 

Emotional strength is all about having survived, something.


(morguefile photo)

Physical strength is in part, genetic, but mostly a matter of working muscles into their peak condition and developing flexibility. This is usually done by working out regularly and sometimes with assistance to target certain areas, but also sometimes just a regular workout routine. The key to building strength is resistance training with weights of varying sizes. If this is done with regularity, muscles will be strengthened and developed. One will see results in both bigger muscles and greater endurance. Since muscle weighs more than fat, sometimes a weight gain accompanies a good workout routine. Eventually, though, inches will be lost and pounds will usually follow. 

To maintain physical strength, the workout must continue. Stopping for a prolonged period will result in the muscle being lost or lessened.

Emotional strength seems much longer lasting. Once your heart has been hurt, it remembers always. It hardens a little more each time and doesn't forget. 

The two can reside in one body, for sure. It's just a matter of understanding that emotional strength is learned and physical strength is earned.

You most definitely learn to be strong emotionally. You also most certainly work to achieve physical strength. Clearly, both are great qualities. Life is better with both of these in your world.

There is no comparison, in my mind, between the two. I will never be physically strong again and I will never be emotionally weak again. My life has taught me that I need the emotional strength because no one else can carry my hurt for me, but if I need something heavy moved, someone can do that for me.  

I am not trying to say that I have had an horrendous life filled with pain and torture. That is simply not true. I have had a life filled with love and many more happy days than sad. Many more happy years than sad. I had a few years of difficulty and survived them. I lost my dad much too young and survived. I have been fired and sexually harassed and survived.  Nothing a million other women haven't had to face and survive. 

Those things do, however, add up to a heart that has been beaten and bruised and yet because my life was peppered with things I had to overcome or learn to live with, I am stronger than I once was, emotionally. I can do whatever I must do. I still feel pain; I still feel defeat; I still ache, sometimes. But I always know that I will survive. I will live to write about whatever it is that is trying to win. It will not. It will be in the lead for a while, but it will not win. I cannot be taken down through my heart, just slowed down momentarily. I also believe my own emotional strength is faith based. I know God will see me through whatever I am facing.

Yep, the sun will come out tomorrow and I will be there to soak it up.

Jo

43 comments:

  1. More power to us women of the world ... we lived, we endured, we survived and we can still love and be loved, we can smile and laugh, we can give ... We are strong

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    1. Could not agree more. Women have defined strength for the rest of the world. Thanks for stopping by. ♥

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  2. An old coach once told me that muscles are not like ice cream cones. Many people think you work out and they just get bigger and bigger like piling scoops on top; but actually through work out, they get torn down then built back stronger. That was his advice on becoming strong physically. He never gave tips on the emotional strength part. Life can be tough. Thanks for your visit!


    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com

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    1. I always visit! I don't know about the break down thing, but I do know from my youth that working out gave me some big ole solid thighs and upper arms which are now just big and not solid because I just don't work out any more. (don't really care right now)
      The emotional part...well, I think we got that! ♥

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  3. Lately, it's the emotional strength that I count on. And it's that which will carry me through as my life morphs/evolves into something else in the next few weeks. I have been through some horrendous things in my life which have no doubt made me a tougher person....but with a gooey center.

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    1. I totally get that. Better days are coming.

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    2. Sorry Jo.....forgot my "Chele" in that post.

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  4. Great take on the strength topic Jo! As always you exhausted it from both angles! Well done my dear friend. :D ♥

    Kathy
    http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you. You know A great deal about strength yourself!

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  5. This topic leaves me speechless. It's as though I have so much to say that I can't say anything for fear of minimizing it. Suffice it to say that, yes, I do agree that woman have SO MUCH strength (even though I've met some very, very strong men). The global fortitude that I've seen from women simply astounds me.

    Nice job! :)

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    1. I also know some very strong men but I think it is usually women who carry the emotionally charged issues. I also think men who get hurt deeply carry it much longer. Seems we are able to face it and then move on. I would love to read your take on strength.

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  6. consistency.......you;ve got it....i think out of all GBE2 fans...you my friend are the most consistent..emotionally...and it takes a physical response too...you are all wrapped into what i would define as STRENGTH..yes indeedy..and its an honor to call you friend

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    1. The honor is all mine! Thank you so very much!

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  7. wow..don't know if i can repeat what i just wrote.....LOL it disappeared when i went to comment as a "wordpress" person...boohoo....nevertheless my friend..you are the EPITOME of strength.......yes indeedy......((hugs))

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    1. And I got both. Thanks for all the effort. You rock Buddy. <3

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  8. I have long agreed that emotional strength far outweighs the physical strength of a person. As I get older, I find the balance shifting (finally...). We've always joked that I am a "woman of hte Amazon" due to the strength I've had and never shying away from a physical task. It has taken me to much later in life (50 on the horizon and only within the past ten years or so) to really find my emotional strength and start building it. I was born with the physical strength - the emotional, I've earned all the way. Thanks for putting it so succinctly in your post Jo!

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    1. Rescued from the damn spam folder AGAIN...hidden amongst the trolls comments. Sorry, I freed you, finally!
      I have known others with similar stories about the physical strength being inherent and the emotional strength lacking for decades.
      I do believe it comes with surviving something you may have thought was unbearable or possibly unimaginable. With survival comes strength. With life, comes some pain and some challenge and the strength is the result of having another day follow what is surely the end of your world.
      Thank you for stopping and sharing. ♥

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  9. Awesome, Jo. Even your writing has strength. Keep it up!

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    1. Thank you, Daphne. I appreciate your observation very much. I shall.

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  10. Rightly said and I agree completely with your views. We have survived and that is our strength. Call it by any name but essentially it is the inherent universal ability that all women have. Waiting to be discovered. Cheers to us !

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    1. I agree. When strength is needed, most women can call it up into action.
      thank you for stopping by and sharing. ♥

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  11. Women are almost forced into being emotionally strong. We have to be, because we are the carers of the world, a somewhat stereotypical view, but one that remains strong. I can't help but wonder if we would have a few less emotional problems, as women, if we occasionally allowed ourselves to fall apart and, most importantly, did it visibly, let the world know we can't always be strong!
    Great piece, Jo. Got me to thinking :o)

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    1. Excellent comment. I think it's good to let go now and then and feel the pain or the strain or whatever, but one must be able to gather it up again because no one can do that for you. I am glad I have finally learned that and can carry on when I am needed. Strength is am important part of who we are, I think, and the lacking of it is also important in telling the world who we are. ♥

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  12. The things that are the most difficult are what helps us grow stronger. I am grateful for every struggle, every pain, every broken heart, because I am stronger as a result. If my body was as strong as my heart and mind, I'd be the world champion weight lifter!

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    1. I am exactly the same. Thanks for sharing, Sharon. I think you speak for many women of a certain age.

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  13. Powerful, Jo (pun intended). We women are strong than we think (always) and do set the bar, only we don't realize we are doing it at the time.

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  14. I missed this. what prompt is this for?

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    1. GBE Strength! Thus the title strength! lol You are just too busy girl.
      Thanks for stopping by. ♥

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  15. Ah Jo, I've missed your wandering mind!! Definitely emotional strength grows with experiences and age. I like to think of it as wisdom and wish I had it. Good one.

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    1. Hey you old pirate, where ya been? good to see you again. Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing. ♥

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  16. Hey Jo, I very much enjoyed this post and I can tell you've thought about this topic. I suppose it could be said that you might need a good deal of emotional strength to gain physical strength. On any given day, when you're tired and the desire to go work out is completely absent. That is where I have historically failed! LOL.

    thanks, Mike

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    1. Thank you Mike...I would agree with you on that. Though for some, it is more of an obsession to be the biggest or the strongest, nothing about good health or toning, which does in fact require emotional strength.
      I have failed in recent years to care about physical strength and for that reason, I have pretty much turned to mush.

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  17. I loved this sentence, "The two can reside in one body, for sure. It's just a matter of understanding that emotional strength is learned and physical strength is earned." --Pretty much sum up both well!

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    1. Thank you very much. Glad you stopped in and shared your thoughts. ♥

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  18. Generally women seem to have more emotional strength than men, becuase from start they are put under more trying circumstances as part of their daily life than men.

    I think I read somewhere that the heart is just like another muscle,the more you work it the stronger it gets.. Now this maybe for both the happy and the sad times..

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    1. I believe a lot of men believe what you are saying is fact. My thoughts are that men are usually (there are many exceptions) not as emotionally strong as women because they don't allow themselves to feel the pain or perhaps to learn from the pain. Other people cannot hurt you, you choose to allow them to hurt you. I have learned to be very careful who I allow to be in a position of possibly hurting me and I find many men don't understand that philosophy. The strength I am speaking of comes directly from surviving pain. You must be open to it to ever fully experience it.
      Thanks so much for stopping and sharing.

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  19. Only one who has walked through fire and come out the other side knows what true strength is and you, my friend, are one of the strongest women I know. It does show in your writing. XOXO

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    1. You are so sweet to me Kat. I appreciate your loyalty and your loving words. Thank you so much. ♥

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  20. Excellent as always, Jo. The tough stuff really does make us stronger and each battle we survive only serves to deepen our well.

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    1. Yeppers. I find that to be true. I miss you already! You just haven't been around to play and I miss that! ♥ Thanks for making time for me. ♥

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  21. "Emotional strength is all about having survived, something."

    I will be ruminating on that simple truth for some time.

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    1. Ruminate away...I believe it's true. :)
      Thanks for stopping in and sharing with me. How was your coffee? :)

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